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The TARDIS has materialised on an asteroid — the last known location of the Koth-Kulaar. A team from Space Service led by CommanderDalton search for Agent 99. They are alerted to the presence of two alien Xragoni (a usually peaceful race of artists and poets) when they become entangled in the tentacles of a giant mutant creature which they are hunting in revenge for terrorising their planet.

The Xragoni are rescued; the Doctor insists the weapons be set to stun, not kill. When the creature comes round, the Doctor tracks the tentacles back to a cave. They find a giant, mutated, mutagenic protobioform. Having survived without the usual travel machine, the creature is near death.

Appealing for compassion as they witness the final moments of a unique life form, they watch the mutant creature die and respectfully bury it on the asteroid. The frustrated Commander, his mission to find Agent 99 a failure, has the Xragon (as a sign of their appreciation for the Doctors help), pass on the last known location of Agent 99 to him.